Event organized by the European Committee of the Regions
When and where?
Tuesday 21 April 2026 from 10h00 – 12h00, online.
SDGs in EU regions and cities
With only 4 years left until 2030, concrete commitments to the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been rather quiet in the EU bubble in Brussels, except for external action.
Looking at EU regions and cities, however, we will see that SDGs have not disappeared, far from it. The Council, as well as the UN, have continually recognised SDG localisation as a key driver of progress and as an accelerator of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda on the ground, while engagement with local and regional authorities (LRAs) on the 2030 Agenda is considered an entry point to further follow up on.
We will take the example of Austria which regions are still much committed to SDGs implementation on the ground, with Carinthia being the first region in Austria having enshrined the obligation to refer in every legal act to the SDGs and which use SDGs as the basis for its innovation and competitive policy. Styria has been a pioneer and power region in sustainability issues for many years and was the first federal Austrian State to publish an SDG report, based on impact-oriented performance budgeting. Austrian regions are actively engaged on SDG implementation, and are ready to do the next step: a Voluntary Local Review (VLR). The federal level will participate at the conference as well.
KDZ – Centre for Public Administration Research will also present the EU-funded project "Sustainable Local Public Finances", focusing on SDGs budgeting in Bordeaux, Barcelona, Hamburg and Amsterdam.
With this event, the European Committee of the Regions and Austrian regions teamed up to highlight the relevance of SDGs on regional and local levels as the framework to work on competitiveness and well-being.
Register to receive the link - Deadline for registration 17 April EOB
More details and an agenda coming soon.
Interpretation: English and German
(There is no reimbursement or flat rate allowance for CoR Members/alternates attending unless otherwise stated)